Flexible grille



July 28, 1936. CORNELL 2,048,840

- FLEXIBLE GRILLE Filed April 26, 1935 N F M H nwfi z w rw' 1- H :1

INVENTOR Patented July 28, 1936 FLE "(12' Claims.

This invention relates to door closures in the form of flexible grilles which are adapted to be rolled up into overhead position.

A general object of the invention is to provide 5 a grille of this kind having improved characteristics as to ease and economy of fabrication, coupled with good operating characteristics.

More particularly, objects of the invention are to provide a grille which can be easily made up from inexpensive and readily available materials with a minimum expenditure of time and labor, and which, when constructed, is rugged and sturdy and capable of being easily operated in its intended manner without twisting or binding.

an improved method of making flexible grille type door closures.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the several steps and the relation of one or more of such steps with respect to each of the others, and the apparatus embodying features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts which are adapted to efiect such steps, all as exemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fullerunderstanding of the nature and objects of the invention reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of one side of an intermediate section of a grille embodying principles of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the grille section shown in Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows,

2-2; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 1, the edge guide being shown in full outline.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the body portion of the present grille is made up from a wire mesh construction comprising laterally extending wires ill, of sinuous form, each having lower cusps or bends l I and upper cusps or bends I2. Throughout the mesh, adjacent cusps are interlaced, thus providing an interconnected wire structure. This form of structure is readily available on the market, being widely used for fences and like enclosures.

In constructing a flexible grille from this material,. a suitable width is cut from a mesh of the same to span a given door opening. This wire A further object of the invention is to provide LE GLE Milton L. Cornell, New York, N.

Cornell Iron Works, Inc., N. Y., a corporation of New Application April 26,

Y assignor to Long Island City, York 1935, Serial No. 18,389

meshing, of required width, then has laterally ex= tending transverse rods l3 passed horizontally therethrough between the interlaced cusps it and I2 of alternate vertically spaced horizontal rows of cusps, as illustrated. These rods are cut 3 5 to a length enabling them to span thegiven door opening and to extend at each side into a suitable vertical guideway such as l4, indicated in dotted outline in Figs. 1 and 2. A primary func tion of rods I 3 is to provide axes on which the w interlaced cusps Ii and I2 may rotate. In the absence of such a rod, the wires ill may only with much dimculty be flexed or rolled with respect to each other, since frictional contact between the overlapped portions of the wires tends to cause 15 sidewise moving or climbing ofone wire cusp on another. That is, an attempt to bend or coil the meshing comprising wires ill in the absence of rods i3 causes riding, shifting and binding of the several wires on each other, so that from a 0 practical standpoint it would be impossible or extremely difficult to utilize the unimproved commercially available wire mesh in a grille which I is intended to be rolled or coiled. on the other. hand, as is indicated in Fig. 1, the rods it, which are preferably cylindrical, space the cusps ii and l2 and give them a suitable ,bearing surface around which they can be rotated without dis-= advantageously contacting and binding on each other. 30

A further function of the rods i3 is to strengthen the grille as a whole, and particularly to provide a structure which is more resistant to cutting or breakage than would be the unreinforced wires alone. These rods i3 may be made of hardened steeLstock of greater thickness than the stock of wires I0 so as to provide astructure which cannot readily be cut or broken through, thus increasing the protective value of the clo-' sure.

The ends of rods l3, at each side of the grille, are spaced and flexibly connected by means of connecting links ,l5 which are held against lengthwise shifting along the rods by means of suitable clips or collars It. The arrangement is such that two adjacent wires such as those referenced i0 and Ill" span the space between two adjacent rods i3, with their intermediate interlaced cusps ii and I2 positioned between such rods. Because of the end link construction at IS, the only cusps which are able to rotate relatively to each other are those such as H and I! which are provided with bearing rods, the cusps ii and I! being adapted permanently twisting on one another.

At the edges of the grille, the free ends of each related pair of wires such as l0 and Ill" are twisted together as at I! from the point l8 at which they first cross each other. This twisting is preferably continued until the free ends reach the end links l5. Such endsare-then passed. through an elongate slot l9 located centrally in the adjacent end link I5, and their tips 20 are trimmed off and upset out of alinement with the slot I9. In the actual assembly of the grille, the twisted ends l'l are preferably extended for a required distance, with their tips 20 in the position that they will adopt in the completed structure, and the end links l5 are inserted over these tips and given a half-turn so as to be locked thereon, after which the rods Hi can be slipped through the holes in the ends of the links. a

The twisted construction at ll afiords a ve useful and practical method of finishing off the side edges of the wire portion of the grille. Since building specifications call for door openings of various sizes, it is convenient, in complying with any given specified size, to cut the wire meshing at any suitable point and to make up the distance between the point I8 and the end link in the manner shown, regardless of how this distance may vary for any given grille.

It will be seen that there has been provided a flexible grille structure which is capable of being rolled up without binding and which can be quickly and easily fabricated from inexpensive, readily available materials.

While for convenience of description, the expression door closure has been used throughout, the present specification and claims, it will be understood that the rolling grille herein described is also applicable to windows, store fronts, counters, corridors, etc., and it is intended that the present claims and specification should be applicable to the disclosed structure when adapted to these latter uses as well as to use in doorways.

Since certain changes in carrying out the above method and in the constructions as set forth, which embody the invention may be made without departing from its scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween. 4

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A door closure comprising a flexible grille adapted to be rolled up in overhead position, said grille comprising a plurality of laterally extending sinuous wires having their adjacent cusps interlaced, laterally extending rods passing through alternate vertically spaced horizontal rows of interlaced cusps, and end links pivotally connecting and spacing the ends of said rods.

2. A door closure comprising a flexible grille adapted to be rolled up in overhead position, said grille comprising a plurality of laterally extending sinuous wires having their adjacent cusps interlaced, laterally extending rods passing to maintain their mutual positions without through alternate vertically spaced horizontal rows of interlaced cusps, and end links pivotally connecting the ends of said rods, the ends of said wires between each pair of rods being fastened to the links connecting such rods.

3. A door closure comprising a flexible grille adapted to be rolled up in overhead position, said tending sinuous wires having their adjacent cusps interlaced, laterally extending rods passing through alternate vertically spaced horizontal rows of interlaced cusps, and end links pivotally connecting the ends of said rods, the ends of said wires between each pair of rods being twisted closely around each other and fas tened to the links connecting such rods. 4. A door closure comprising a flexible grille adapted to be rolled up in overhead position, said grille comprising a plurality of laterally extending sinuous wires having their adjacent cusps interlaced, laterally extending rods passing through vertically spaced horizontal rows of interlaced cusps, and end links pivotally connecting and spacing the ends of said rods, the ends of said wires between each pair of rods being fastened to.the links connecting such rods. 5. A door closure comprising a flexible grille adapted to be rolled up in overhead position, said grille comprising a plurality of laterally extending sinuous wires having their adjacent cusps interlaced, laterally extending rods passing through alternate vertically spaced horizontal rows of interlaced cusps, and end links pivotally connecting the ends of said rods, each end link having an elongate slot therein, the ends of said wires between each pair of rods being twisted clos'ely around each other and having their extreme ends beyond said twisted portion passing through the elongate slots of the links connecting such rods, said extreme ends lying flat against the outer faces of the end links in non-registry with such slots.

6. A method of fabricating a flexible door closure which comprises, utilizing a pre-formed mesh of laterally extending sinuous wires having their adjacent cusps interlaced, cutting a width of said mesh to correspond to that of a given door opening, inserting rods horizontally through vertically spaced rows of interlaced cusps, pivotally connecting the ends of said rods with links, twisting the free ends of adjacent pairs of wires together until they reach said links, and fastening each twisted pair of wire,

v opening, inserting rods horizontally through alternate vertically spaced rows of interlaced cusps, twisting the free ends of adjacent pairs of wires together, upsetting the tips of said twisted free ends, providing end links each having an intermediate elongate slot, passing the slotted portion of one of said end links over each associated pair of upset tips, turning said link until its slot is out of registry with said tips, and utilizing said links pivotally to connect the ends of said rods.

8. A method of fabricating a flexible closure which comprises, utilizing a preformed mesh of laterally extending sinuous wires having their adjacent cusps interlaced, cutting a section of 75 said mesh to correspond to the area desired to be closed thereby, inserting rods horizontally through vertically spaced rows of interlaced cusps, pivotally connecting the ends of said rods with spacing links, and securing the free ends of the wires to the corresponding links respectively connecting the rods between which such free ends are located.

9. A closure comprising a flexible grille adapted to be rolled and unrolled freely at will, said links pivotally-connecting the ends of said rods, the ends of said wires between adjacent rods being twisted around each other and fastened to the corresponding links connecting such rods. 10. A closure comprising a flexible grille adapted to be rolled and unrolled freely at will. said grille comprising a plurality of laterally extending sinuous wires and laterally extend"- ing supporting rods, said wires being interlaced around said rods for support thereon, and adjacent wires being interlaced with each other, and rigid links pivotally'connecting and spacing said rods. a

- MILTON L. CORNELL. 

